BACKPACKING
BACKGROUNDI
love
the outdoors – I’ve spent time camping in the outdoors since I was
born, and
have been actively hiking and backpacking since then. I
consider myself a lightweight
hiker, usually carrying 20 – 30 pounds (11-13 kg)
for
hikes up to a week in length. I hike at an easy pace, averaging 2 mph
(3 kph).
I am a one-man tent camper for now. I like to carry a single trekking
pole when I
hike to
help relieve stress to my legs and knees. I like to get out on the
trail as
often as I can.

PRODUCT
DESCRIPTION The Tifosi Q3 sunglasses are extremely
lightweight and have the option of changing out the lenses for
different visibility situations. The frames are made of Homoplyamide
Nylon that seems to be very durable and lightweight. The lenses are
made of Polycarbonate which makes them impact resistant and improves
clarity. The nose and temple area are provided with a Hydrophilic
Rubber for comfort. The lenses and portions of the frame are
vented for excellent air-flow.

I N I T I A L R E P O
R TOctober
16, 2007

The
Tifosi Q3 sunglasses showed up in a nice, ballistic material case with
a
zipper. Inside the case was the Q3's with the Smoke lenses already
installed, 3 other sets of lenses (AC Red, Yellow and Clear),
instructions on how to install and remove the lenses from the frame and
a micro-fiber cleaning bag. After pulling the glasses from the case, I
could not believe how light they felt. I ordered the Metalic Blue color
but the blue seemed lighter in color than the ones on the web site. I
immediately put the glasses on and the fit was perfect. I do not like
sunglasses that are too close to my eyes where my eyelashes touch the
lens. These were just the right distance away for this not to happen.
The arms of the frame have a curve to them so the frames did not touch
the side of my head until they reached my ear. The tips of the arms at
the end has a small rubber piece as well as the inside of the nose
area. This helps keep the glasses gripped to the face if sweating
occurs.

The lenses have a small slot at the top and bottom, close to the hinge
of the frame. This allows air to enter and escape the eye area, not
that my eyes tend to overheat but it does help with anti-fog. The
lenses are also easy to change from one style to another. To remove the
lens simply hold the frames with the arms facing upward. With both
thumbs and forefinger, spread frame slightly away from lens while
pressing the lens out with the thumbs. This would be done for both
lenses. To install the lens, hold the frames the same way except the
arms are now facing down. Place the lens in place and easily spread the
frames apart and using the thumbs, gently press the lens into place.
The instructions that come with the glasses go into more detail with
pictures on this procedure. When this is done, there will be finger
prints on the lenses. The case contains a micro-fiber
cleaning bag that also acts as a cleaning cloth to clean the lenses
after the installation. The case itself has a ballistic material feel
to it and seems to be very sturdy to protect the glasses and lenses.
Inside the case there are pockets to store the unused lenses.

I will be wearing the Tifosi Q3 Sunglasses most days if not everyday of
this test period. I will most likely leave the Smoke colored lenses in
for most of my journeys. If the weather calls for the others I will
certainly change them out. The clear lenses had me wondering when I
would use those but I realized that they will come in handy when
traveling through thick brush or tree cover to protect my eyes from any
object poking them, sort of like safety glasses. I look forward to
many, many days with these glasses.

F I E L D R E P O
R TJanuary
8, 2008

The Tifosi Q3 Sunglasses are very
lightweight glasses and it has been a joy to wear them. I have worn
them just about every single day from the day I received them. I keep
them in my car and wear them to and from work and when I am out and
about. But that is not what this report is for. I have worn them on
several day hikes and during the day on an overnighter at Caesars Head.
The temperatures during my day hikes have been from 75F - 55F (24C -
12C). The elevation has ranged between 1,000 ft. - 2,600 ft. (305 m -
792 m)

The glasses have worn very well. They are light enough to not feel them
on my face. During my day hikes I mostly used the Smoke colored lenses
because the sun was out or it was only partly cloudy. The lenses have a
slight notch at the top and bottom that allows air to pass through them
and into the eye area which I have found to be very nice. This keeps
them from fogging if the body temperature is up and the weather is
cool. The frames sort of wrap around my face which is nice so that I
don't see the edge of the frames in my peripheral vision. At times when
I would stop for a break on the trail I would slide the glasses on top
of my head or on top of the bill of my ball cap. I like the way the
arms of the frames have a curve in them to wrap around the head. This
feels more secure to my face than the arms that wrap over the ears. I
have not felt like I have had to have Croakies (TM) for these glasses
because they do feel secure when I have pushed them up on top of my
head or cap.

The Smoke colored lenses do well keeping the bright sun from making me
squint my eyes and tiring them out. As I said before, these are the
ones that I have used the most out of the four different colored
lenses. I used the yellow ones during the hike out of Caesars Head. The
cloud cover was heavy and the yellow lenses brightened everything up
and made it very easy to see green foliage. After a while with these
lenses in the frames, my eyes started getting tired, I would think from
the brightness of everything. I endured this through the rest of the
hike in but was pleased at how well I was able to see everything.

The frames and the lenses seem to be very durable up to this point. I
have dropped them and sat on them and they are still working perfectly
with no breaks or bends. The rubberized nose piece and the rubber tips
on the ear end of the arm, seem to leave red marks on my skin in those
areas if I wear the glasses for a long period of time but they are not
uncomfortable. These glasses have been great to wear all the time and I
look forward to switching out the lenses more often and continuing to
test the durability and comfort of the frames.

L O N G T E R M R E P O
R TFebruary
25, 2008

I have continued to wear the Tifosi Q3
sunglasses almost on a daily basis. I have worn them on three recent
day
hiking trips and a morning trail run. Not much has changed since my
field report.

As far as the dayhikes, I wore them to a local state park where I took
my dog for training days for learning to go backpacking with me and
just general hiking. On
these days I used the Smoke colored lenses because the sun was out or
it was very bright and these kept me from squinting and making my eyes
tired. The temperature ranged between 65 F (18 C) and 75 F (23 C)
during the hikes at a range
in elevation from 1,200 ft to 1,300 ft (366 m to 396 m).

As before, I really like the Tifosi's as an everyday sunglass and they
worked great in the field. I would normally pick the lens out and
place them in the frames according to the visability before I started
my hikes. During some of the hikes I would make it
into a trail run and the glasses stayed snug to my face and not droop
down or slide down the bridge of my nose. Occasionally I would have a
drop of sweat drip on the lens and I simply wipe the lenses with the
micro-fiber cleaning bag and continue my run. I wore them on a morning
run through our local city park the other day which the weather was a
little bit over-cast and foggy and about 62 F (16 C). I decided to
insert the AC Red lenses for better visibility. The red tint really
makes it easy to see in foggy weather and it appears to make objects
more clear and bold. The mist from the fog tended to build up on the
lenses and I basically wipe them with my finger which made the
visibility a little bit more obscure. This didn't cause too much
of a problem as I could still see where I was going and again the tint
helped the obscured visibility.

I would like to include the fact that they have been great while
mountain biking also. The vents at the top of the lenses are great as I
ride and keep fresh air in the eye area and to keep them from fogging
up when my face warms up. They have been very good eye protection from
small limbs that I could not avoid. They also stayed snug to my
face and never felt too tight or gave me a headache from wearing them
during long periods of time. I actually wrecked on my bike and the
glasses stayed in their original position and never came off.

SUMMARY
The arms have stayed tight and I have not had to tighten them or repair
them. The lenses have stayed scratch free so far and I have taken care
of them by placing them in the dedicated spot in the case. I can't
stress enough how much the Tifosi Q3's have held up in durability and
how comfortable they have been. The great thing is that the
light weight of the glasses lets the user have continuous eye
protection
from the sun's UV rays and not feel the glasses on the face or feel any
fatigue from them.

LikesVery light weight
The straight back arms
The rubber on the nose and ear piece
Changable lenses

Dis-Likes
None really

This concludes this test
series. Thank you Tifosi and
BackpackGearTest.org for this
opportunity.

Product tested and reviewed in each Formal Test Report has been provided free of charge by the manufacturer to BackpackGearTest.org. Upon completion of the Test Series the writer is permitted to keep the product. Owner Reviews are based on product owned by the reviewer personally unless otherwise noted.